


Strings of Tension

by twtd



Series: Strings of Tension [1]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Mildly Dubious Consent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-22 00:48:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13752738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twtd/pseuds/twtd
Summary: Alex is an omega. No one knows that Alex is an omega. General Lane definitely doesn't know that Alex is an omega.Alex and Lucy pretend to be a mated couple in order to keep General Lane off of Alex's back. But how much is really pretend?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. This story is completely outlined but I haven't finished writing it yet. My goal is to post at least a chapter a week assuming nothing unexpected happens. I expect it will be around 7 chapters long.
> 
> 2\. This is an alpha/beta/omega story and contains all of the tropes associated with that, and is why it's tagged dub-con even though everything that happens in it is consensual. 
> 
> 3\. Enjoy!

Alex arrived at the DEO's desert base just as the late winter sun was setting. It was almost too cold, too windy, to be riding her bike, but to her overheated skin the chill was a relief. She pulled off her helmet at the security gate, and fished her badge out of the pocket of the non regulation leather jacket she was wearing over her standard black uniform. The guard nodded her through and she coasted in first gear to the underground parking area. She didn't put the kickstand down right away, prefering to sit for a minute, to give herself the illusion that she could still turn around and go back to the city. She pulled off her riding gloves finger by finger, tugged at them with her teeth, then stashed them in her jacket pockets. Finally she let the bike rest to one side and dismounted. She took another long moment to lock away her helmet. It was then that she heard the echo of heeled boots cracking off of concrete walls.

"Are you going to make it inside the base or are we going to have our meeting out here?" Lucy's voice echoed just as her footsteps had before.

Alex sighed and said, "I'm coming," not realizing just how much she sounded like a reluctant teenager. Lucy waited for her to approach, but was silent as she walked by Alex's side and into the base. Lucy turned toward her office, Alex almost missed the turn, still focused on the click of Lucy's heels, counting each one in her head. It wasn't a great distraction, but it was something. Lucy did nothing to break her concentration. She opened her office door and motioned for Alex to precede her inside. Alex slumped into one of the guest chairs, and rather than going to the other side of her desk, Lucy sat next to her.

"You're going to have to tell me what the problem is eventually." Lucy canted her head to the side. "You're the one who wanted to see me."

"Maybe I just missed your sparkling personality," Alex tried to joke, but it fell flat with her lack of enthusiasm. Lucy just pursed her lips and gave Alex a look.

"Right. Well, if you're just here to waste my time, I'm sure I have something more important I could be doing," Lucy stood and was at the door in a heartbeat. She was just opening it when Alex finally spoke.

"I'm an omega."

Lucy slammed the door.

She turned back to Alex. "You're a…" She blinked several times and carefully made her way back to her chair. As soon as she sat down, she popped back up again and started pacing. "How? I mean… How?"

"Well, scientifically, no one has figured out the exact DNA sequence that determines designation, but there is some promising research coming out of the Netherlands," Alex replied, the sarcasm thick in her voice.

"Don't be a jackass." Lucy slapped Alex on the back of her head as her pacing took her past. "You know that isn't what I mean."

"Ow," Though it didn't particularly hurt, Alex rubbed the back of her head anyway, playing it up. She dropped the act and slid down further in her seat. "There's a spray," she mumbled. "An alien developed it, but it was so long ago no one remembers who. J'onn was using it and he slipped some to Mom for Kara. Puberty hit and I…" Alex shrugged. "I saw how people started treating omegas like they were useless for anything but sex. I couldn't,"

Alex finally couldn't sit still anymore. She got up and rounded Lucy's desk, opening a bottom drawer, and pulling out the bottle of scotch she knows Lucy is hiding. Two cut crystal tumblers quickly followed. She asked Lucy with her eyes if she wants a drink too. Lucy responded with a curt nod, and Alex poured, sliding a glass across the desk.

"I had to take care of Kara. I had… I had so much I had to do. I told myself it would just be for a few months. Then it was just until graduation, just until college started. It was always next semester, next semester. Then J'onn showed up and you know what the DEO is like. It doesn't matter that there's a non-discrimination policy. I'd still be a lab rat." Alex downed her drink and poured a second. Lucy held her own glass out for a refill. Alex sat in Lucy's desk chair and put her feet up on Lucy's desk.

It's Lucy's turn to sigh. She rested her hip against her desk. "You've been hiding this for more than ten years," Lucy said incredulously. "What happens when you go into heat? Do you still have heats?"

Alex flushed bright red. "I just, uh, worked through it for a while," and if there was a way for Alex to turn a brighter shade of red with that admission, she did. She really doesn't want Lucy thinking about what 'working through it' involves. "Now, I take suppressants," she mumbled.

"Jesus, Alex. Those are only supposed to be used for a couple of heats at most. You have no idea what those are going to do to you. Who would even…" Lucy stopped, "You've been writing your own prescriptions, haven't you?" She shook her head.

"Yeah." Alex put her glass down. She wanted to pour another, but restrained herself. She could get drunk later. Right now, she needed Lucy's help

"So, if you've got this spray and you're on suppressants," Lucy glared at Alex, "why are we talking about this?"

Alex dropped her feet to the ground and rubbed her forehead. "Because the other day Kara told me I smelled weird and the suppressants haven't been working as well."

Lucy gave Alex a look that says, "I told you so," as she shook her head, but she quickly put together the real problem. "Everyone at the DEO respects you enough to get over their surprise. You've more than proven yourself, not that you should have to just because you're an omega, but my father is going to be here in two days. And my father is a bigoted asshole."

Alex groaned and let her head thump to Lucy's desk.

 

***

  
"Wait, what?" Winn stopped in his tracks and spun back around to look at the group. "I need a recap. So you," he pointed to Alex, "are an omega, welcome to the club, by the way. We have cookies. And your father," Hands pressed together, he pointed his fingers at Lucy, "thinks we live in the 1950s and that unmated omegas shouldn't be allowed out of the house without supervision, let alone work for a covert government agency. So the two of you," Winn pointed to each of them, arms crossed in front of himself, "are going to pretend to be mated where we," this time Winn's gesture encompassed the whole room, "don't end up in the middle of a trumped up Congressional investigation or down one Alex."

"Yes," Lucy said as Alex chimed in with an, "exactly."

"Oh, this is a terrible idea." Winn shook his head as both women glared at him in response.

"Do you have a better one?" Alex asked. She looked around the island at J'onn and Kara too.

"Uh… how about the one where we tell the truth? Or Alex could go on vacation for a few days. I'm just spitballin' here." Winn continued circling the island until Alex glared at him.

Kara just buried her face in her hands as J'onn responded. "Lucy knows her father better than we do. If she thinks this is going to be a problem, then I'm inclined to believe her. And as Alex is my second in command, she can't go on vacation the week of our yearly evaluation."

"Well, I've got nothing. Supergirl is going to be far, far away from the DEO while General Lane is here. Unless you need me for something, of course. But yeah, far, far away. So whatever you decide on, I'm happy to play along." Kara tapped the island with her fingers before stepping away. "I've got to get back to work. Reports to write, buildings to leap." Kara backed away a few steps before she turned and walked toward the balcony before taking off.


	2. Chapter 2

The door to Lucy's apartment loomed in front of them. "Come on, Alex," Lucy said as she rested her hand at the small of Alex's back. Alex was sure it was meant to be comforting, but it made her flinch anyway. "I know you don't like it, but if we're going to make this at all realistic, you have to stay here." Lucy unlocked the door and pushed it open where Alex could go in ahead of her. 

"I know." Alex nodded as she sat her duffle bag by the door and walked into Lucy's apartment. Lucy was close on her heels, closing the door behind them. 

Lucy's apartment was nice, nicer than Alex's. There was a doorman and a gym downstairs and Alex could see the doors to at least three other rooms from where she was standing. The building might have been from the '20s but the inside had been completely renovated. The casements of the nearly floor to ceiling windows seemed to be the only nod left to the original architecture. 

The open space of the living room and kitchen dominated her view. It would be a great set-up for entertaining, which made it even weirder that she'd never been inside before. Once this was all over, Lucy was so going to be put into the rotation to host game nights. 

A massive, deep brown leather couch sat at the center of the living room, and Alex imagined it must be a great place to take a nap, or just sit with a glass of whiskey after a long day. "Is that a wet bar?" Alex gaped toward a corner of the living room. 

"It was there when I bought the place," Lucy shrugged. She scooped up Alex's bag and headed down the hallway. "I hope you don't mind sharing," she said as she walked down the hallway, expecting that Alex would follow her. Alex did. 

"Right, no, of course," Alex stammered out. "Because of the scent." She didn't think General Lane would be poking around Lucy's bedroom, but you never knew.

"And because it's the only room with a bed in it." Lucy pointed toward the other doors. "Half bath and my office," They were almost directly across from each other. Lucy skipped a room and opened the last door. "My room. Well, our room for now." She tossed Alex's duffle on the bed and gave her a moment to take it in. 

The bed was large, but not excessively so, dark red mahogany carved into four tall, delicate posts, a gently curving headboard at the top. Somehow it fit Lucy perfectly yet wasn't at all what Alex would have expected. The rest of the furniture matched and created an atmosphere of soothing warmth. There was a chair in one corner and a doorway to what must have been the master bath. 

Alex rubbed her forehead. Staying here would probably be weird, but it wouldn't be a hardship. "So what's behind door number three?" Alex tilted her head to the side, motioning to the room on the other side of the wall. "Any dark secrets I should be worried about?" 

Lucy chuckled and headed back out. "Nope. No random pagan altars. Not even a sex dungeon." Lucy opened the door. "Just an empty room."

And it's exactly that. A few dust motes drift through the air but otherwise, it's just hardwood floors and windows with generic blinds. "I guess I'm going to turn it into a guest room one day, but it never seems like there's time. Also, it discourages both my dad and Lois from staying with me when they're in the city. I thought about turning it into a gym, but between downstairs and the DEO, that seemed excessive, and I don't have enough clothing to turn it into a giant closet. I might have gotten there if I'd kept working for Cat, but when you basically wear a uniform every day..." Lucy lead them back out to the living room as Alex continued to trail after her. 

"You should, uh, make yourself at home. Obviously," Lucy said as she went over to the bar, throwing a couple of ice cubes in some glasses then pulling out a bottle of Lagavulin. "I guess you'll have to stop wearing your weird, alien perfume since it isn't really working anymore."

Alex shrugged as she took the glass Lucy offered her. "Yeah. Not much point." Alex was hit with a burst of insecurity. She had never really smelled herself before, let alone let anyone else, everyone else, smell her. What if her scent was terrible, repugnant? Lucy's apartment was going to end up smelling like her, that was the whole point, but what if Lucy hated her scent? She'd end up paying a fortune to have it excised from everything. 

Lucy must have seen something in her eyes because she reached out and took Alex's hand, but she misinterpreted it as general anxiety. "Don't worry. We're two smart, strong women. If anyone can pull this off, it's us." She knocked her glass against Alex's and took a sip. "Now let's sit on the couch, drink some scotch, and see if there's anything on Netflix we can agree on. 

"Yeah," Alex said, feigning enthusiasm and claiming one end of the couch as hers.

***

"Alex," Lucy said gently as she squeezed the arch of Alex's foot. She wasn't sure when Alex's feet had ended up in her lap, or when Alex had fallen asleep, but the episode of Mindhunter had just ended, so it seemed as good a time as any to head to bed. First she had to get Alex to wake up.

It turned out that agreeing on a show hadn't been hard: serial killers and Anna Torv had been an easy call. At some point around the second episode they watched, Alex had tucked her legs under herself and rested her head on the arm of the couch. Then her feet had slid over as she drifted off. Now they were in Lucy's lap, Alex sprawled out on the couch next to her. Lucy almost hated to wake her, but she knew from experience that it would lead to a horrible crick in Alex's neck. She squeezed Alex's foot again. 

"'M comfy," Alex slurred out. It surprised Lucy that Alex wasn't one of those people who jolted awake. Instead, she just pulled her feet away, burrowed further into her own arms and resettled. Lucy sighed in mild exasperation. She rubbed her hand over Alex's lower leg and tried to ignore the way her calf muscles felt under her palm. "Alex, we have to go to bed. You need to wake up." 

It was Alex's turn to sigh as she opened her eyes. "Where…?" she asked as she looked around and tried to reorient herself. It took her a minute to realize she was still at Lucy's, then she pulled her feet away and put them on the floor. "Sorry," she leaned forward and rubbed her eyes. "I must have thought you were Kara," she said as she tried to laugh off the sudden awkwardness. 

"No, it's fine," Lucy said as she stood. "I, uh, I didn't mind," Lucy ran her fingers through her hair. "Still, we should probably…," she said as she motioned in the direction of the bedroom.

***

It started with a whisper. It ran through the alien population of National City like electricity. Most people dismissed it out of hand or tentacle or gelatinous body part. But they weren't the audience for the message.

Yet, there were a few who understood, who understood the importance, the monumental importance of the moment, where the message sparked. 

They heard and they understood and they started whispering back.

***

Lucy slowly drifted into wakefulness the next morning, cool sheets to her right and warmth blanketing her left side. Alex's head was resting on her shoulder, nose nuzzled into just above where Lucy's scent glands were located. Almost as if she could sense that Lucy was about to slide out of bed, Alex tightened her arms and pulled Lucy closer. She had a leg thrown over one of Lucy's, and an arm wrapped around her stomach. It was comfortable in a way sleeping with James never had been, and even though she knew her alarm was about to go off, Lucy found she didn't want to move.

Then the silence was shattered. Lucy's alarm blared from her nightstand jolting Alex awake. Alex just ended up pressing closer as she tried to reach out to turn it off, but her arms weren't long enough. There was no ignoring the way her breasts were now pressed against Lucy's arm. 

"Make it stop," Alex whined as she tried to bury her head underneath Lucy. Lucy chuckled and rolled over far enough to slap the snooze button. Alex was now trying to burrow her face into Lucy's back. Lucy looked back over her shoulder.

"Are you always this whiny first thing in the morning?" Lucy asked. It was then that Alex's eyes opened and she practically flew to the other side of the bed. 

"Lucy? What?" Alex stammered before she groaned. "I, uh… Sorry about that. I just…"

"Assumed I was Kara?" Lucy raised an eyebrow, calling Alex out on the lie.

Before Alex could respond, the alarm started going off again. This time Lucy turned it off. Silence descended between them, the awkwardness growing by the moment. 

Lucy took a deep breath. With it, she could just smell the faintest hint of Alex's scent. She couldn't tell just what it smelled like, but it seemed pleasant. Finally, when the tension became too much, Lucy coughed. "So, want to go on a run?"

"Yeah," Alex replied. "That sounds good."


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> General Lane arrives

Everyone at the DEO was on edge. They would have been shifting around nervously if they all weren’t so well trained. Even Vasquez, transferred in from the desert base for the evaluation, looked tense. Despite their loyalty to his daughter, no one at the DEO had a good thing to say about General Lane. His daughter was the one person who had given into her urge to pace. She traveled from computer to computer, from one side of the large circular island around to the other. She pulled at the cuffs of her long sleeve uniform shirt. 

The doors opened and General Lane strode in, his newest attaché one perfect step behind him. Lucy stopped pacing and Alex’s hand came to rest on her forearm. She rubbed at it with her thumb and squeezed it lightly. She would have done it no matter what, but the General zeroed in on it immediately. 

“Director J’onzz, is that it now?” He said with disdain. He looked even more displeased when J’onn uncrossed his arms and offered his hand to shake, distaste twisting his mouth into a bitter joke of a smile. He took J’onn’s hand anyway. 

"Lucy," he ignored the rest of the room to look directly at his daughter. "Enjoying the new job." His tone made it clear that the answer should be anything but yes. 

Lucy wasn't cowed. "It's fulfilling." 

His response was a harumph as he turned away from her. "Well, we might as well get started." His words encompassed the entire room this time. 

"Since you haven't been to the city base before, I thought we could start with a tour," J'onn said. They had planned this, had planned a way for Lucy to get her father alone, or at least as alone as she could. "I'm sure Lucy would be happy to show you around."

***

Lucy walked down the hallway at the General's side as she kept an even pace with him despite his longer legs. His attaché was still behind them, but that wasn’t going to change. Lucy took a deep breath before angling her body toward her father.

"I've taken a mate,” she said, her voice clear and strong like she had nothing to be ashamed of because she didn’t. He wouldn’t agree, but even outside of these circumstances, that wasn’t his call. 

His expression turned dark and the questions came quickly after her announcement. "When? Why? Who? It is that James boy? Because he is isn’t good enough for you.”

"It isn't James and it was almost a year ago." That’s the story they had decided on. As far back as they could realistically go since General Lane had visited the DEO with Lucy not that long before. 

"And you're just telling me this now?" He was obviously trying to reign in his temper but he wasn't doing a very good job of it. His face was turning red and not for the first time Lucy was glad she had gotten her complexion from her mother. 

"This is the first time we've talked in over a year. You've been overseas. I've been busy. So yes, I'm just telling you now." 

"You didn't get someone pregnant did you?” Lucy shook her head. Of course, that was his first thought. “Because there are ways to take care of that without mating with someone."

"No Dad, I didn't get anyone pregnant." She wanted to roll her eyes, but she long since been broken of that habit when in the General’s presence. "It's my choice and I hope you'll respect it."

"Well when do I get to meet this new mate," she could tell he was already determined not to like them. He had never liked any of the men she had brought home and he refused to even acknowledge her bisexuality. This was not going to be fun. 

"It's Alex,” for the first time Lucy unclasped her hands from behind her back. “I saw the way you were looking at her earlier. She isn't something you have to worry about."

"She's an omega with top secret clearance. She has SCI access. She's a liability,” He was adamant now. 

"She's a good agent. And luckily I've taken care of it,” Lucy just stopped herself from making a face at how she had put that, but it was designed to appeal to the General’s prejudices, not her own feelings. 

"Is that why you did this? To take care of it?" He was suspicious to the last. 

"Of course not,” Lucy paused and her voice got quiet. “I did it because I love her."

***

The young Alstairan stuck to the wall at the back of the room, but that wasn't enough to hide him from the group. The room looked sparsely populated, but that could have been due to its sheer size. The leaves trailing down his back ruffled in discomfort, but he pressed on. He had chosen to come to the meeting. He was already dedicated to the cause.

Irision was a refugee on Earth, fleeing from the never-ending war that consumed his home star system. He had thought earth would be more accepting than it was, that anything was better than war. Now he wasn't so sure. He just wanted his own place, but that was never going to happen if things continue as they were. The humans were never going to accept them. They would always be seen as mere refugees, as interlopers, as less than human. 

When the group cheered, his voice was just loud as the others. When they took the oath, he took it right alongside them. His life now belonged to the Alien Liberation Front.

***

"Do you think he bought it?" Alex asked. They were back at Lucy's apartment for the night, glasses of wine in hand while they shared Thai from the place just down the block.

"I think he's skeptical," Lucy replied, "but I think he would be skeptical of me mating with anyone at this point." She leaned back into the low back of her barstool. "You know, James and I never did." 

"Really?" Alex was surprised. Lucy and James had been together for years. It would have been perfectly normal for them to have mated, even if they hadn't been ready for marriage. 

"Yeah, it just never felt like the right time." She shrugged before sitting up and spearing another noodle. "He never thought James was good enough for me, but at the same time, he seemed almost disappointed when we broke up." Lucy rubbed her forehead. "It's like he was looking forward to berating him for the next twenty years." 

"And is he going to berate me for the next twenty years?" Alex joked, but there was something about it that was a little too real. She chuckled a little, but it was forced. "More importantly, is he going to get me fired?"

"It's too early to tell, but I think I've intrigued him enough where he'll reserve judgment for now," Lucy said. 

Alex reached over and put her hand on top of Lucy's, "thank you for doing this. I don't think I've said that yet. I know it's probably going to make things harder with your father." 

Lucy flipped her hand over and laced their fingers together. "Leaving the Army is what made things hard with my father. This will just be a blip on his radar."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things start heating up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A slightly longer chapter this time

"Bravo Leader, this is Alpha Leader, what's your location?" Alex looked beyond the ridgeline to the compound in front of her team. It wasn't far to the first building, but they would be in plain sight if they tried to storm in. There was no cover in sight and no clue what might be waiting for them inside the buildings. Just reports of a rogue alien and several civilians. 

"Alpa Leader, this is Bravo Leader, we're approaching our position now." The voice was tinny but clear and for that Alex was thankful. She didn't want to deal with equipment failures on top of everything else. Since they couldn't come in from the air, Bravo team, half a klick away, was going to be their diversion. 

But before Alex could issue another command, the sky lit up with explosions and smoke filled the air.

***

"Trust me, it's going to work," Akterist said. He looked down at the map of National City pinned to the table. "That's where we strike." He tapped hard with his claw, puncturing the map, and sinking the tip into the wood beneath. Hostility radiated off of him like he was barely stopping himself from going out and taking on all of humanity alone.

"But what about Supergirl?" Irision was nervous. He had already fled from one war. Was he ready to fight in this one? He took a deep breath and steeled his nerves. Yes. He was. He could already picture how much better the world would be after they won. 

"The bitch? Latest headlines have her off in Metropolis fucking around with that collaborator cousin of hers. If we strike now, she won't be able to do a fuckin' thing about us. And once everyone sees how strong we are, we'll have enough followers that we won't have to worry about Supergirl ever again."

***

General Lane, J'onn, and Lucy were gathered around a set of screens, each showing a different view of what was going on on the ground. The picture from the camera mounted on Alex's helmet was the least stable as she ran toward the first building and stopped just outside the doorway to let her team catch up. Just because Alex often ignored procedure when she was out in the field didn't mean she couldn't follow it when she had to. If ever there was a time to do so, it was when an army general was looking for any reason take over the DEO generally and ruin Alex's career at the same time.

The action continued below them as each team cleared their assigned buildings, evacuated civilians, and worked in perfect concert toward the center of the compound. There was no way the alien was actually going to be somewhere that predictable, but that was the procedure. 

Lucy caught a glance of Alex through Bravo team leader's camera and Lucy's breath caught in her throat. Alex was covered in bulky armor and Lucy shouldn't really have been able to tell it was her, but it didn't matter. Lucy could tell. 

Just then, there was another explosion. It knocked Alex off of her feet and into a nearby wall, and Lucy couldn't stop herself from sucking in a quick breath of air. It was the only outward sign that she was worried about Alex, but it was enough to earn her a look from the General. She hoped it did more to convince him of the veracity of her claim that Alex was her mate than it undermined her potential ability to send Alex out on dangerous missions. 

While she was caught in her thoughts, both teams had zeroed in the location of the alien and were moving in on him. Lucy knew the simulation would be over soon, and she stepped away from J'onn and the General back toward the Humvee that had carried them out to the training grounds. Alex had taken some dangerous risks during the assault, no riskier than she took every day, but that wasn't saying much when the subject was willing to throw herself out of a building with the hope that Supergirl would catch her. Lucy didn't know why it suddenly bothered her, but she took the moment to compose herself before J'onn and General Lane joined her at the vehicle.

***

Lucy watched as Alex strode into the DEO. Her armor was gone, but she was still covered in desert sand, and as soon as Lucy saw her, she knew that she wasn't over some of the stupid things Alex had done in the field. She didn't think when she followed Alex into the locker room, and she was brought up short when she found Alex already topless and in the process of stripping off her pants.

"Something I can do for you?" Alex asked, one eyebrow raised. She was standing there in nothing but a sports bra and boxer-briefs, yet she was still exuding the sense of command she had in the field. 

For a long moment, the only things Lucy could think about were long legs and smooth skin. She already knew that falling asleep that night was going to be a challenge. Then Alex's scent hit her nose and she almost swooned and she almost bared her teeth and she almost humiliated herself with how much she suddenly wanted. Alex's smell vaguely reminded Lucy of ocean salt and desert nights, but it wasn't so easily defined. She had her own unique musk and currently, it was mingled with sweat. There had only been hints of it before as the spray wore off. Her apartment smelled like an omega had been in it months ago instead of that day. It was nothing compared to this. There was an acrid scent layered on top of that from the propellant used in the guns, but it was easy to distinguish the natural smell from the manmade. A chill went through Lucy's body and she realized it had been too long since she had said anything. For some reason though, Alex didn't call her on it. 

"J'onn won't mention it and the General wouldn't know, but that bomb blast? You should have been prepared for that," Lucy's voice cut through the tension in the room but immediately replaced it with simmering anger. 

"Oh really? How, exactly, was I supposed to anticipate your father hitting us with live ammunition?" Alex stood ramrod straight, her hands curled into loose fists. 

"Because he's my father and he was never going to play by the rules," Lucy's voice was just below a shout now and she leaned toward Alex. "Knowing that is part of your job." 

Alex scoffed. "You're just looking for an excuse to bust my ass, Lucy. You wanted to be out there. You think you could have done a better job than me. That's what you're really saying," Alex was livid now. "Well, that isn't your job anymore and you need to realize that." With that, Alex turned and stalked off to the showers. 

"I want your after action report on my desk before you leave here tonight," Lucy called after her.

***

Alex was on edge when she finally made it back to Lucy's apartment that night, the door practically slamming behind her as she made her way inside. It was only after she had thrown her motorcycle helmet down, and pulled her gun out of its holster to put away, that she realized that something smelled good and that Lucy was currently in the kitchen. Alex has been there for three days now and they've eaten takeout for dinner every night. She didn't know Lucy could cook, let alone do it well.

It drained some of the tension from her shoulders despite her better judgment. Lucy's earlier beratement was still ringing in her ears. She shouldn’t be ready to forgive her.

Alex put her gun in the safe and scooped up her discarded helmet as she walked over to the island. "What's this?" she sighed. 

"Dinner," Lucy shrugged. "I was getting tired of take-out." She chased a potato through the sauce and onto a spoon, and offered it to Alex. It was a tiny, almost insignificant peace offering that shouldn't mean anything, but somehow did. Alex didn't even think before she leaned in and ate it.

She nodded in approval. "I'm still angry with you. This isn't going to change that." But somehow it already had. She was more relaxed than she had been all day, even though it felt like there was something buzzing in the back of her brain. She pushed the feeling away and focused on the present. 

"I know," Lucy said before going back to her cooking. She liked cooking, but it wasn't something she had had much time to do when she was running around deserts at her father's behest. 

Alex sighed. "You were right though. I should have expected that your father would pull something like that." Alex looked down as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. She almost looked like she regretted it. 

"Still, I shouldn't have yelled at you," Lucy said. "It wasn't the time or place." Lucy dished the stew into two bowls and slid one across the island to Alex. "I could have at least waited until you were dressed." 

Alex shrugged. It wasn't the lack of clothing that had really gotten to her. She and Lucy had been in locker rooms together before. It was the shift in Lucy's scent that let Alex know just how angry she was. Normally Lucy smelled like controlled aggression, but her anger had completely overpowered that smell. That, and something else, some other scent Alex had never smelled on Lucy before. The anger still lingered, but it was significantly less strong. Lucy was back to smelling like herself. That, more than anything, allowed Alex to relax.

"It's over now. You're sorry and I'm sorry and this stew is delicious," Alex pointed down at her plate with her fork. "Let's just let it go." 

"Sounds good," Lucy returned to her meal. 

"Besides, if you're still mad, we can't Netflix and chill," Alex said.

Lucy almost choked. "You know that isn't what it means, don't you?" she asked.

Alex smiled wolfishly. "I said what I meant." With that, Alex got up and cleared her plate before sauntering over to the couch and reclaiming her corner.

***

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Irision looked down at the metal sphere Akterist was holding in his hand. It looked innocuous, but it wasn't. Once they set it off, it was going to do more damage than he could even conceive.

"Are you questioning my judgment?" Akterist growled out. "Are you questioning your mission? Our mission?"

"No, of course not. It's just… we're going to kill a lot of innocent people." Irision hadn't really thought of that before, but now that the mission was here, he couldn't stop thinking about the faces of his siblings. They had been as innocent when they had been murdered by Andromedean soldiers.

"There are no innocent humans," Akterist turned on Irision and grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him close. He breathed out, "Isn't that right?" directly into Irision's face. Akterist let go and pushed him away. 

Irision nodded reluctantly. "Of course." But it still didn't sit right with him. Maybe he should go to the police. Maybe this was a really bad idea. 

Akterist pulled his blaster from its holster on his hip and pointed it directly at Irision's chest. "For some reason, I no longer believe in your dedication to the cause." The blaster whined as it charged.

"No, please." It was the last thing Irision said before the blaster burned a hole in his chest.

***

Klaxons blared overhead as Alex crossed her arms and spun around on the stool in her lab. It was the computer guys time to undergo their simulation and Alex was trapped in a fake quarantine along with Lucy and a few other lab techs. It was surprisingly boring. She couldn't actually work on any of her lab projects, getting her out of quarantine was one of the objectives, and computer coding didn't provide much in the way of stunning visuals.

Lucy walked over and sat on the stool next to Alex. She placed a hand on Alex's knee to get her to stop spinning. If she left it there for a few beats longer than necessary, neither of them mentioned it. Despite Alex's words the night before, they had, in fact, just watched another episode of Mindhunter before Alex claimed the bathroom to have a hot bath for her sore muscles. 

"I have bad news," Lucy kept her voice low where they couldn't be overheard. She had to lean into Alex's neck and she couldn't stop herself from taking what she hoped was a subtle, deep breath. She'd become obsessed with Alex's scent ever since the locker room. By now, she could pick it out in the middle of a crowded room. She'd noticed that Alex was also getting a few more long looks from some of the other alphas at the DEO, but she told herself that she wasn't jealous. She wasn't allowed to be jealous. 

"Does it involve being stuck in here for another hour?" Alex muttered, forcing Lucy even closer to hear her. 

"Trust me, you'd rather be stuck here." Lucy's hand had made it back onto Alex's knee. "My father wants to have dinner. With both of us." 

Alex went completely still. "Well fuck."


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dinner with the General and Lucy gets protective

The clink of silverware was the only thing that cut through the silence blanketing the table where Lucy, Alex, and General Lane sat. They had already exchanged pleasantries and ordered their meals, but now it seemed they had nothing to talk about. Neither Alex nor Lucy wanted to be there, so neither was trying particularly hard to direct the conversation. 

"So, you're a scientist," General Lane made the opening gambit. It seemed harmless enough, but Lucy already knew it was leading to something else.

"Among other things," Alex replied. She couldn't exactly get into the specifics of her job when they were in public. She loved the science, got restless when she wasn't in her lab often enough, but she also loved everything else she got to do. 

"Have you ever thought of doing that full time?" There is was. That's where the General was going. 

"Dad--," Lucy tried to cut him off

"What? I simply want to know "

"I had a research position lined up for me in Seattle after graduation, but I think I'm much happier in my current position."

"You almost went to Seattle? With the rain? And the ferry boats? And the world-class bioengineering research facilities?” Lucy asked.

Alex blushed but she smelled pleased, "Yeah. But I think I would have been bored. I’m glad J’onn recruited me.”

“Yes, I was looking over your file. I’m amazed he took a risk with you when you were so compromised at the time.” The General was looking for blood, but Alex wasn’t going to give it to him. 

“I agree, but I’ll always be grateful that he did.” Alex reached over and tangled her fingers with Lucy’s where they were resting on top of the table. Alex wasn’t proud of her past, but she wasn’t going to hide from it either. 

Lucy squeezed her fingers in return and tried to interject. 

“Still, it must be nice to have family connections,” the General interrupted her. 

“You would know all about that, wouldn’t you?” Lucy snarked back. She knew she had benefited from her father’s position, but she had worked hard too. Just like Alex had. 

Alex’s smile was tight as she stood. “if you’ll excuse me for a moment,” she said. Lucy let go of her fingers, but as Alex passed, she grabbed her hip and pulled her down into a light kiss. Alex just went along with it, making it look like something they had done a thousand times before, not something they had just done for the first time. Lucy immediately wished Alex could have lingered. 

As soon as she was gone, the General started again. “If she just got her ass back to the lab where she belongs,” he said. 

“Stop it. She isn’t going to hole up in some lab just because you think it’s ‘her place.’ She’s damned good at her job and you won’t find anyone who disagrees with me beside you.” 

“I doubt I’m the only one. And what about when she goes into heat? She’s useless for days,” his voice low and intense. 

“Dad.” She couldn’t very well tell him just how Alex was ‘dealing’ with her heats, but luckily she caught sight of Alex from the corner of her eye. Lucy turned to smile at her. 

Just as Alex was starting to smile back, her face turned serious. Even as Alex sprinted back toward their table, Lucy felt the heat of the blast from an explosion on her back. Everything was suddenly going in slow motion. She had just started ducking to the ground as Alex reached her, tackling her and pulling the table onto its side in one smooth motion. 

The blasts started immediately. Lucy ducked her head out from behind the table to get a sense of what was going on then automatically ducked back. 

“It’s all outside, but it’s definitely alien,” Lucy said. She pulled her gun out. “We need to get these people out of here.”

“I’ll do it. You two get out there,” said General Lane. Lucy was shocked and it must have shown on her face. “You two have weapons, I don’t. Now go.” It seemed when it was necessary, he was perfectly willing to trust Alex in the field. 

Lucy looked back to Alex as she prepared to run into the chaos. Alex had her alien gun out and nodded her readiness. “Let’s go.”

***

When Alex and Lucy emerged through the hole where the window used to be, the courtyard and the street adjacent were in chaos. The asphalt and sidewalks were torn up and there was a crater in the center of the intersection. Lucy spotted three aliens rampaging through the destruction as civilians fled the scene. The NCPD hadn’t shown up yet, but they were sure to be close by. Lucy could already hear the sirens.

“Do you want the one on the left or the right?” Lucy had to shout to be heard. It was a hell of a time for Kara to be out of town. 

"Left," Alex said decisively as she ran in that direction. 

*

***

The alien didn't bother aiming as he fired his blaster at whatever caught his eyes. The destruction was beautiful. The chaos was exhilarating. Everything was going perfectly.

Suddenly, there was movement in his peripheral vision. He turned as the human woman raised her weapon.

***

Alex pulled the trigger on her gun as the alien spun around to face her. She didn't blink. She stared him down as the energy blast hit his chest and knocked him off his feet. At the same time, she felt an intense burn across her upper arm. Alex hit the ground on one knee just as she attracted the attention of the third alien.

***

Lucy saw Alex go down and her stomach dropped to her knees. She sprinted toward Alex, unloading her clip into the last alien, but he wasn't going down. She reloaded. The sirens were finally close enough. She heard car doors slam and boots rushing in her direction. They weren't close enough. Lucy wasn't thinking. She just moved. She hit her knees and slid between Akteris' legs, pulling the trigger of her gun the entire time. She scrambled forward and finally, finally ended up with Alex at her back and the alien in front of her. She could hear the faintest growl coming from Alex.

Akteris raised a thick, plated arm, ready to bring it down on Lucy's head when he suddenly started to pitch forward. The DEO was there and had stunned him. He fell to the side as Lucy threw herself over Alex to keep her safe. She had to keep Alex safe.

***

Lucy burst into the medbay and headed straight over to Alex. Luckily, no one else had been hurt in the attack, or the assault that had come after, but all Lucy could remember was the sight of Alex getting shot and falling to the asphalt. It didn't matter that she could see Alex three feet away, she needed to make sure she was okay anyway. She breathed in a lungful of antiseptic air and slowed down.

"It's just a burn," Alex said, sitting up on the edge of the bed. The arm of her dress had been cut off and a large, white bandage covered the wound. It had to hurt, but Alex's eyes were clear and other than some fluids and antibiotics, it didn't look like the doctors had put anything for pain in Alex's IV. 

"You're lucky you didn't get your arm blasted off. Not to mention the sprain and the concussion," Lucy said, voice full of irritation. Lucy was glad the alien hadn't killed Alex because she was going to do it herself. She knew that if she took her eyes off of Alex for a minute, she'd be signing herself out of the medbay and be halfway to the containment unit now holding the one alien they had managed to capture. He hadn't given up his name yet and they were still trying to determine his species, but they could do that without Alex's input.

"Minor sprain and possible concussion," Alex stressed. Her wrist was in a light splint, but she already looked anxious to get out of there.

"Possible or actual, I don't care. You're staying here until a doctor says you can leave." Lucy was adamant. Lucy would tie her to the bed if she needed to. Tying Alex to the bed sounded like a great option.

"I am a doctor." Lucy pursed her lips at Alex's response. It was exactly what she had expected Alex to say, but Lucy's anger hadn't cooled. 

"Right now, you aren't. Right now, you don't even have a medical degree." Lucy crossed her arms and stared Alex down. She was not getting out of the bed and Lucy wasn't taking her home until a doctor told them she could. 

Alex leaned in where no one would overhear her, her voice low and her anger clear. "You aren't my alpha. You can't tell me what to do." Lucy wanted to scream. Couldn't Alex see that Lucy just wanted to make sure she was okay? Wanted to keep her safe?

"Maybe not, but I still outrank you. And if I tell you to sit your ass down, you sit your ass down." She didn't want to pull rank, but if that's what it took, Lucy would do it. "You get out of here when your doctor says you get out of here."

Alex was taken aback. She did as she was told, her body simply reacting to Lucy's tone, but she wasn't going to give up that easily. She spat out a, "Fuck you," before she turned away from Lucy and ignored her.

***

This time when Lucy’s door loomed in front of her, Alex didn’t pause. She flung it open and marched inside, Lucy quick on her heels. Lucy closed the door significantly more gently than Alex would have. They hadn’t spoken to each other during the car ride home and it looked like the trend was going to continue.

Alex immediately turned toward the bedroom. 

“What are…?” Lucy trailed off as Alex turned and glared at her over her shoulder. 

“I’m going to take a shower,” Alex growled out. “Or am I not allowed, oh mighty alpha?” Alex didn’t wait for an answer. She stalked down the hall leaving Lucy alone to stew. A moment later, Lucy heard the shower turn on. 

As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t see Alex’s point of view. She was just trying to protect her. It wasn’t going to do Alex any good to leave the medbay too early and just make everything worse. Lucy couldn’t calm down. She tried to pace her energy out, but it wasn’t working. She went to the kitchen and started on dinner. Cooking would help relax her and providing Alex with food had seemed to work before. It was worth a try now. 

She had just poured the eggs into a pan to make an omelet when Alex re-emerged. She had abandoned her ruined dress for sweatpants and a tank top, and still wet hair clung to her neck. 

“You can’t just feed me and expect me to forgive you,” Alex said, voice deceptively placid. 

"I don't need your forgiveness for making the right call." Lucy shot back. So much for trying to calm down. 

“You threw yourself in front of me,” Alex said. Oh. Oh, this wasn't about the medbay at all. Lucy was taken aback.

“You were injured. I did what I had to do,” she said matter of factly. She didn't want to fight with Alex, but she wasn't going to back down.

“You didn’t have to do it. I would have been fine.” Alex's voice was strained. Her fists were clenched. 

“You don’t know that,” Lucy's voice took on the same strained tone. 

“So what? Better for you to die than me? Is that it? Going out in a blaze of glory to protect your omega? Isn’t that what all of the movies are about?” Alex said, voice louder and thick with sarcasm. 

“Damn it, Alex. Yes," Lucy shouted back. "Is that what you want me to say? What’s so wrong with wanting to protect you?” Given the choice, Lucy would do it again without question. Between her and Alex, she was always going to pick Alex. 

“I can protect myself. You don’t have any kind of claim on me. Maybe you’ve forgotten, but we aren’t actually mates.” Alex was shouting now. 

“I. Don’t. Care. If I want to protect you, I will. And as your superior officer…”

“Don’t pull that bullshit with me, Lucy," Alex interrupted. "We both know it’s not true. That isn’t why threw yourself in front of me.” Alex pulled the lightly smoking pan off of the burner and threw it into the sink. It clattered loudly.

“What do you want me to say, Alex? What do you want me to do?” Lucy asked.

“I want you to admit it. I want you to admit that ever since I told you, you’ve been acting like I’m just another weak omega you have to take care of.” Alex crossed her arms. 

“So I should have let that alien kill you just to prove to you that I still respect you? Is that what you want? No. There is not a universe where that would be an acceptable option.” Lucy was adamant and it was true. 

Alex’s only response was to growl. She stepped into Lucy’s personal space, “I can take care of myself.” 

“And I’m telling you, I know that.” Lucy’s lifted her hand to cup Alex’s cheek. “I know that,” she said as she pulled Alex down and kissed her. 

Alex returned the kiss almost immediately, opening her mouth under Lucy’s. She whimpered and pressed closer, backing Lucy up against the counter. Lucy could feel her cock getting hard. She flipped their positions, using her hips to wedge herself between Alex’s thighs. She nearly died when Alex let her legs fall open and wrapped one of them around Lucy’s hip, using it to pull her closer. Lucy couldn’t stop herself from rutting forward. 

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Alex pulled back, sudden panic in her eyes. Lucy ran a hand through her hair and turned to answer the door. 

She looked through the peephole and immediately stiffened. 

“It's my dad,” Lucy whispered and pointed toward Alex’s shoulder where a mating bite would normally be.

"Shit," Alex said as she looked around for something to help the situation. She quickly found a blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders as Lucy opened the door. 

General Lane stood there in his uniform. "Lucy," he said before looking over her shoulder and seeing Alex. A look of distaste crossed his face but he didn't say anything about it.

"Did you want to come in?" Lucy offered and opened the door wider. Alex just stayed where she was, standing by the couch.

"No. No thank you," he said. "I just wanted to let you know that I've been called away. They need me back in Washington." He shifted uncomfortably, fidgeting lightly with the hat he had tucked under his arm. 

"I'm sorry to hear that," Lucy said. Everyone in the room knew it was a lie. 

"Right, well. You can tell the Director that you passed the evaluation. He'll have my report in a few days." He looked over Lucy's shoulder one more time, but he didn't say anything. Lucy knew it meant he had made peace with her choice, with Alex. He wasn't going to try anything, at least not now. 

"I'll pass that along." Lucy nodded.

"Then I'll be going." He nodded back at her then turned on his heel and walked away. Lucy closed the door and rested her forehead against it for a long moment. She turned around when she heard the blanket rustle. Alex had dropped it back onto the couch. 

"Well," Alex swallowed nervously, "I guess I can go home now." 

Lucy's confusion was written on her face. A minute ago Alex had been in her arms, all signs pointing toward her wanting Lucy. Now she was backing away. All Lucy could smell was fear that hadn't been there before. 

"If that's what, uhm, Alex?" Lucy wanted to talk about what was happening between them. 

Alex just shook her head. "I can't… I just…" She backed away from Lucy and practically fled to the bedroom. It was only a few minutes later when she reemerged with her duffle. Lucy was still standing in the middle of the room. 

Alex gave her one last look before she quietly said, "goodbye," and left. 

Lucy let out the breath she had been holding and rubbed her forehead. She needed to clean up the kitchen, but she suddenly didn't have the energy. Instead, she almost unconsciously reached for the blanket that had been around Alex's shoulders and wrapped it around her own. She walked around the couch and sank down into Alex's corner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not thrilled with the way the action came out, but it needed to happen.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short chapter but it really didn't fit anywhere else.

Akteris sat quietly in his cell. His own incarceration didn’t matter. The plan had succeeded. The movement had taken the first of many steps. He didn’t need to survive as long as the movement survived.

***

Lucy had her arms crossed as she looked at the monitor where Akteris’ cell was displayed. “He’s just sitting there?” she asked.

“Yes,” J’onn mirrored Lucy’s position. “He’s been like that ever since he woke up. Won’t even tell us his name.”

“Which is not so much a problem, because I just found him,” Winn said as typed a short sequence into his computer the spun around in his chair. “Everyone, meet Akteris no last name,” A picture of the alien appeared on the screen. “No idea how long he’s been on Earth, but it’s long enough to get arrested a couple of times for trespassing, criminal mischief, and, oh hey, assault.” Winn tapped some more buttons. “Looks like he skipped bail on that last one.”

“So what, he graduated to bombs? That seems extreme,” J’onn said. He walked over to look at the screens more closely. 

“Yeah,” Alex said as she joined them. She had been watching the Akteris from just outside the containment door, hoping she could see something that everyone else missed. “But he was with two other aliens. Maybe one of them had something to do with the escalation.”

“It’s possible,” J’onn responded. 

“Guess that means we’re off to be detectives for the day,” Lucy said. 

“Don’t you have a base to run?” Alex said pointedly at Lucy. She just… needed Lucy to go away, to go back to the desert where she belonged. There was no reason for her to be hanging around anymore. Alex’s glare was less subtle than she thought it was. 

J’onn looked between them. He didn’t want to referee, but he would if he had too. He definitely didn’t want to ask what had happened between them between yesterday and today. 

“You can’t go out there alone,” Lucy said. “You need back up.”

Alex bristled. Hadn’t she already talked to Lucy about trying to coddle her? She just needed to get outside, to move, and Lucy was just going to slow her down. “There are plenty of agents here who can be my backup.” 

“Alex…,” Lucy nearly pleaded. She took Alex by the arm and led her off to a quiet corner. “You’re being ridiculous. I was there, remember, don’t you think that gives me enough reason to want to go after this guy?”

“I don’t think that’s why you want to go,” Alex whispered fiercely. “And I can’t deal with this today. So why don’t you go back out to the desert and let me do my job.”

Lucy was hurt by Alex’s words, but she tried not to let it show. Had it really only been a day since they had been joking about what to wear to dinner, since Alex had melted into her arms. Lucy sighed. That was the problem though, wasn’t it? Lucy crossed her arms and took a step back. “Fine, but if anything happens to you out there, you’re going to be in big trouble.”

Alex rolled her eyes in irritation at Lucy before she walked off to get ready for her mission.

***

Alex and her backup team slowly entered the warehouse, guns up, flashlights scanning through the gloom. It had taken hours running from one side of the city to the other to find someone who could point them in the right direction, but once they had a lead, finding the location for the revolutionaries’ headquarters had been almost too easy. Once they got there, it was easy to see why. Other than Aliens Rise being painted on one wall and a table. The entire place was abandoned.

Alex saw the table first and slowly approached. It was littered with maps and schematics. The intersection where the attack had happened was circled in red pen and it looked like the schematics matched up with an explosive the DEO had encountered before. There was no new information. 

The rest of the group fanned out. “Agent Danvers, we’ve got a body over here,” one of the other agents called out. Alex left her spot by the table and walked over. The dead alien looked like he was barely older than a kid. Alex shook her head. They covered him with a tarp and Alex went outside to relay everything back to the DEO. 

Maybe they wouldn’t hear from the Alien Liberation Front again, but Alex wouldn’t bet on it.

***

Once she was back at the DEO, Alex finally took a deep breath. Some of the other agents had been complaining about the cold, but Alex hadn’t felt it. The evening air had felt amazing. And now that she was back, she felt like she had a sudden burst of extra energy. Alex went into the locker room and stripped off her gear. Something about her skin felt off, but she was sure it was nothing a cold shower wouldn’t fix. Then she was going to spend some time in her lab. Maybe she would finally get through the DNA she was sequencing.

***

Lucy walked around the desert base one last time before she couldn’t justify staying any longer. She knew her apartment was going to smell like Alex when she got home, and it was going to drive her crazy. She wondered just how long it was going to take for Alex’s scent to fade away. Then she wondered why that thought sounded so unappealing. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex and Lucy figure things out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is almost entirely smut.

Alex woke up in her bed, sheets tangled around her, and a hand between her legs. She was naked, and she was already on the verge of coming. For some reason, her first thought was of Lucy, and her warning to stay safe, and that was enough to push her over the edge. It took a long moment for Alex to catch her breath again, and once she did, she was confused. She was naked, and she wasn’t sure exactly how that had happened. Maybe she just hadn’t put on anything the night before? She couldn’t remember just when she had fallen into bed, but she knew it was late. 

She had been trying to concentrate on her lab work at the DEO, but eventually, it had gotten too hot in her lab. The air had been stifling and she felt like she was going to burst out of her own skin. It didn’t matter how far down she turned the thermostat. After shifting one too many times in a five minute period and nearly knocking an entire case of samples onto the floor, she had given up for the night. She vaguely remembered seeing a clock pronouncing it 2:47 am, but she couldn’t swear to it. She knew she had gone down to the garage and gotten on her bike, but after that, nothing. She was lucky that she hadn't crashed into anything. 

Now, all she felt was turned on, and frustrated, and wrong.

Work wasn’t happening today. With one of her last rational thoughts, Alex managed to pick up the phone and call the DEO. As soon as she was finished, her thoughts quickly devolved. She was in the wrong place. She wasn’t safe in her apartment. Her mate wasn’t there. She needed to find her mate. 

Driven by something she didn't understand, she threw on her loosest clothing, which was still too much for her over sensitive skin, made a lunge for her keys, and stumbled out of the door.

***

The rumor of Alex’s absence quickly spread around the city base. Agent Danvers never called in sick. She had come into work with a broken arm and three bruised ribs once. She had come in with walking pneumonia. The only time Agent Danvers wasn’t at the base, doing one of her many jobs, was when J’onn officially banned her.

But she wasn’t there that day and the rumor mill started up. 

It didn’t take long for the rumor to spread from the city base out to the desert. Vasquez was a magnet for that sort of thing, and if they casually mentioned it when Lucy was in earshot, there was no way you could prove they had done it deliberately.

***

Lucy waited a couple of minutes and knocked again. J’onn hadn’t been able to tell her just what was wrong with Alex. It made Lucy worry. It compelled her to check on Alex even if seeing her was probably the last thing Alex wanted. It didn't matter. She had to make sure Alex was safe.

But she couldn’t check on Alex if Alex wouldn’t even open her damned door. Lucy wanted to demand that Alex let her in but instead, she sighed. Maybe Alex really was sick. Maybe she was asleep. If so, Lucy didn’t want to wake her. She turned and left.

***

Lucy frowned as she walked past the doorman and into her apartment building. That Alex had called in sick was weird in itself. That she wasn’t answering the door at her apartment… that’s what made Lucy worry. Still, Alex was an adult and she could do what she wanted with her nights. She didn’t owe an explanation to anyone, let alone Lucy. Lucy wasn’t allowed to freak out every time Alex did something unexpected. Alex wasn’t her omega and she needed to stop thinking about her that way. It didn’t matter that it had started to feel like that in the end. She clenched her fists in irritation.

Lucy’s frown only deepened as she pulled her keys out to unlock her door. There was something odd about the scent of the hallway but she couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was. It hit her in the face as soon as she opened her door. 

It was Alex, but it’s more than that, more intense, muskier. There was movement on the couch, a slight whimper, and Lucy’s gun was out and pointed in that direction in a blink. 

“Freeze,” She commanded as a head finally emerged from the other side of the couch. Alex’s hands went up, another uncharacteristic response, but by then Lucy was lowering her weapon. 

“Alex?” She asked, her confusion was obvious. 

“Hey, I must have fallen asleep,” she said as she ran a hand through her hair. She felt more lucid than she had for most of the day. She didn't want to think about what she had spent most of the day doing while she was on Lucy's couch. Alex twisted her neck around to pop it and the smell got even stronger. Lucy could barely breathe with how thick it had gotten. 

Alex stood up and it was then that Lucy noticed that Alex was wearing one of Lucy’s too large West Point tee shirts and a pair of too short track shorts. There were a few patches of sweat soaked into the shirt and now that she was paying attention she could see more sweat gathering at Alex’s temples. Despite that, she had Lucy’s favorite blanket wrapped around her shoulders like a cape. 

Alex looked vulnerable in a way she never had before and Lucy wanted to pull her into her arms and make sure everything was okay. But that wasn’t her place anymore. It never really was. Still, Alex was hunched in on herself, and her pupils were wide open, and it was then that Lucy put it all together. 

“Oh God, you’re in heat,” Lucy said. Color appeared high on Alex’s cheeks. She had known that's what it was for most of the day, but hearing Lucy say it out loud made it too real. She squirmed slightly, unable to stop herself. It was embarrassing how much she wanted. 

Alex cleared her throat. “Yeah,” despite her posture, Alex’s voice was clear and strong. “It’s probably been coming for a day or two, but I just figured it out this morning. When…,” she swallowed, “when I woke up.”

Lucy suspected there was more to the story but she didn’t press. 

“God, this is so humiliating,” Alex ran her hands through her hair and took a step back, away from the couch, away from Lucy even though it felt like it was the hardest thing she'd ever had to do. 

“Hey, no,” Lucy tried to soothe her. “Going into heat is perfectly normal,” even if Alex hadn’t done it in close to a decade. It was probably also terrifying. 

“That’s not… it was distracting when I was younger, but I was always able to get through it.” Alex was agitated now, pacing back and forth. “But this morning… I couldn’t do it, Lucy. I couldn’t stand to be in my apartment alone. It was like,” Alex’s eyes were wide with worry and a little bit of panic. Her scent mirrored her fear. The alien assault hadn't made her scent change, but this simple thing was apparently overwhelming. 

“Like I couldn’t stay away, even if I wanted to,” Alex’s voice dropped into a whisper at the end. She didn't know what was wrong with her, why she had gravitated to Lucy's couch and not her own bed. Her own bed had been fine the last time she had gone into heat. But Lucy's place was better. It made her feel better. 

“You’ve been here all day?” Lucy asked. Alex just nodded in response and turned red again. She's wandered from one end of Lucy's apartment to the other too restless to stay still. She kept coming back to the couch though, always ending up with a hand between her own legs. She was sure the entire apartment smelled like sex and that Lucy knew exactly what she had been doing all day. 

“Why here?” Why would Alex choose to abandon her own apartment when she clearly felt terrible. Omegas in heat didn’t do that. They stayed where they felt safest. Oh. Oh. 

Lucy couldn’t not touch Alex any longer. “Alex…,” She rounded the couch and reached up to cup Alex’s face. Alex flinched and pulled back. Lucy dropped her hand. “I’m glad you felt like you could come here.”

Alex nodded, “but this is where you tell me I need to go home, right?” She hugged the blanket around herself even more tightly. If Lucy made her leave, she was going to take the blanket with her, even if she had to fight Lucy to do it. 

“No,” the vehemence in Lucy’s voice surprised even her. She didn’t want Alex going anywhere. She reached out and wrapped her fingers around Alex’s wrist. This time Alex didn’t pull away. “No. I want you… I want you to be exactly where you want to be. If you want to spend the night drinking scotch and watching Netflix, that’s what we’ll do. If you need me to make you dinner, If you want to go to bed and sleep, whatever you want.” And if being so close to Alex while she was in heat and not doing anything about it killed her, then Lucy would just have to die. She was going to keep her omega safe. 

“And if I don’t want either of those things?” Alex’s voice dropped and she let go the blanket. Despite Lucy's uncertain body language, Alex was suddenly feeling much more confident. 

“Then we’ll do whatever you do want,” Lucy said. 

“Anything?”

“Yeah. Anything.” 

Lucy didn’t have time to process the change in Alex’s scent before Alex’s lips were on hers. It was torture to pull away, but she did. She needed to be sure. "Alex, is what you want?" she asked. Alex just leaned down and captured Lucy's lips again. Taking that as response enough, Lucy brought both of her hands up to cup Alex's face as they kissed. Then she let them drift down to Alex's neck over her scent glands, then continuing down. Her hands were going to smell like Alex for days. 

Alex whimpered into Lucy's mouth and pressed close, molding their bodies together from hips to shoulders. Lucy could already feel the flush as blood pooled at her groin and her cock hardened. 

“Please Lucy, I just… I need you,” Alex whispered. She nuzzled into Lucy’s neck and bit lightly at it. “I need you to take me to bed.” It was the hardest and the easiest thing for her to say. Finally, she was going to get some relief. She wanted to push Lucy down on the couch and climb on her. She needed Lucy so badly she didn't care where they were. 

Lucy wasn't so indiscriminate. She nodded and forced herself to take a step back. She swallowed hard. “Okay.” She tangled her fingers with Alex’s and tugged her toward the bedroom. If she touched anything else, they were going to end up having sex in the hallway. She was at least going to make it into the bedroom first. 

She opened the door and flicked on a light before she felt Alex squeeze her fingers and tug her back around. Alex pushed the door closed with her foot. Looking at Alex, Lucy took a shuddering breath. 

“I’m not going to break,” Alex said. “Though it would fine if you wanted to try.” God, she wanted Lucy to try. 

Lucy’s brain short-circuited. “That wasn’t… I wasn’t…” all coherent thought was gone. Alex put her fingers over Lucy’s lips. She no longer looked vulnerable. There was a fire in her eyes that hadn’t been there before and Lucy was ready to get burned. 

“Just shut up and fuck me,” Alex said. “Just… take me.” 

It was enough to make Lucy refocus. This was her new mission and she was going to relish it. She brought her hand up to cup the back of Alex’s head and twined her fingers into Alex’s hair. With a sharp pull, Lucy brought Alex’s head down and into a blazing kiss. Lucy’s tongue begged for entrance into Alex’s mouth, and a tug on Alex’s hair made her gasp, forcing her to submit to the kiss. 

Alex couldn’t stop herself from moaning. Lucy, Lucy’s whole presence was overwhelming. She wanted to be naked, to have her skin pressed against Lucy’s, to have Lucy hold her down and take her. She was so hot. If she could just get Lucy to fuck her, it would make everything better. If she could just lie down in a bed that smelled like Lucy. 

Alex clawed at Lucy’s clothing, trying to get them off. She needed to get them off but she wasn’t making any progress. Lucy wasn’t helping. 

Instead, Lucy bypassed the problem altogether and just pushed her hands under Alex’s baggy shirt to find a breast and squeeze. Alex whimpered as Lucy pinched one of her nipples. There was already a sheen of sweat on Alex’s skin. Lucy pushed Alex’s shirt off then pushed her back onto the bed. 

Alex landed with a slight bounce. She lifted herself up on her elbows and gave Lucy a perfect view of her breasts and her abs. Lucy wanted to kiss and suck and bite at them. She pulled her own shirt off and was about to do the same with her pants when suddenly Alex was there, sitting on the edge of the bed, her hands covering Lucy’s. “Let me do that for you,” she husked as she popped the button at the top of her pants. Lucy couldn’t move. She could only stare at Alex doing the most ridiculously sexy thing Lucy had ever seen her do. 

Alex eased the zipper down over the bulge in Lucy’s pants then pushed her hands over Lucy’s ass, inside her pants and underwear, forcing the pants to Lucy’s thighs. Alex got off of the bed to kneel in front of Lucy as she pushed her pants down the rest of the way. She made quick work of Lucy’s shoes and socks, and finally, Lucy was able to step out of her pants. Lucy was left in nothing but her bra and she wasn’t sure exactly how it had happened. 

She reached around to unhook it herself, but she fumbled when she suddenly felt warm breath on her cock. “Jesus Christ,” Lucy nearly blacked out when Alex’s lips touched her head of her cock and her hand wrapped around the base. Lucy had to put a hand on Alex’s head to regain her balance. She pulled back, and couldn’t believe herself when she said, “there’ll be time for that later,” when her whole body knew there was time right that damn minute. But Alex came first. Alex needed her knot or she was going to crawl out of her skin sometime very soon.

Alex whined at being denied and looked up at Lucy. “If you don’t want that, what do you want?” she asked. 

“I want you back up on that bed,” Lucy commanded, as she finally removed her bra. 

Alex responded like a green recruit. She couldn’t get back to the bed fast enough. “Better?” she asked. 

“Almost,” Lucy replied. She climbed up on top of Alex’s legs, and hooked her fingers in Alex’s shorts, “but if I’m going to fuck you like you want, these have to go.” The crotch of the shorts was dark with wetness, possibly more than could have accumulated in the last ten minutes, and Lucy didn’t give Alex a chance to get them off before she was pushing her face between Alex’s legs and mouthing at her through the shorts. Alex arched off of the bed like she had been struck by lightning. Alex was having trouble breathing. 

Lucy could only just taste Alex and it wasn’t enough. She needed more. Alex, writhing underneath her, needed more. Lucy pulled away just long enough to pull Alex’s shorts down before diving back in. Lucy couldn’t believe how wet Alex was. She knew it was to make taking her knot easier, but the biology didn’t matter. Lucy just wanted to taste it, to taste Alex. So she did. 

She pushed Alex’s legs further apart and ran her tongue through the wetness until she found the source. She fucked Alex with her tongue until that no longer became enough. Then she started using her fingers, first using one, then two, then three, as she lapped against Alex’s clit. 

Alex thrashed above her. She dug her heels into the bed and pushed into Lucy’s mouth. She scrambled for purchase against the headboard. She arched under Lucy’s tongue. And she came. 

Wetness flooded around Lucy’s fingers as Alex floated in orgasmic bliss for a long moment. Lucy was amazed. Every moment, Alex did something sexier than the last. It wasn’t Alex who was going to break by the end of the night, it was her. Lucy came back to herself with Alex moving above her. Alex was careful not to hit Lucy with a leg as she rolled on to her stomach and arched her back. 

The orgasm had provided only a brief reprieve from the heat, the need, coursing through her veins. She needed Lucy to fuck her, to knot her, and she was acting on instinct now. “Please,” she whined as she lifted her hips. 

Lucy couldn’t have stopped her growl if she had wanted to. Seeing Alex like that, offering herself to her, it somehow made Lucy even harder.

“I’m coming,” Lucy said as she climbed up Alex’s body. As soon as she was there, she kissed one of Alex’s shoulder blades and took Alex’s hips in her hands. “Don’t worry, babe, I’ve got you. I’m going to take care of you. Just be a good girl and let me take care of you.” Alex whimpered and bucked back against Lucy where she was pressed against Alex's back. 

Lucy pushed her fingers back into Alex to let her get used to the new angle and without thought, Alex pushed back harder and whined Lucy's name. Lucy pulled her fingers out, giving in to Alex's wordless begging. She grasped cock and positioned it at Alex’s entrance. With how wet Alex was, it was nothing to push into her, but Lucy didn't right away. She teased Alex with the head, rubbing it over her lips, pushing it in just a bit then pulling back out again. It was torture for both of them, but Lucy wanted to take her time. Finally, finally, she pushed all the way into Alex in one long thrust. Lucy’s now free hand came back to Alex’s hip, and she used her hands to steady Alex. "Please, please, please," Alex begged as she arched back, trying to get Lucy to start moving. 

Lucy had to take a minute to clear her head enough to figure out what she wanted to do next. There were so many things, but they all fled when Alex pulled away slightly then pushed back, fucking herself on Lucy's cock as she moaned. It had been so long since Alex had had a heat she was overwhelmed and she only wanted one thing: she wanted Lucy's knot and she would take it herself if Lucy didn't start cooperating soon. 

Thankfully, Lucy got the message and started thrusting into Alex. She wanted Alex to come at least one more time before she pushed her knot into her. Lucy pushed harder and Alex fell forward from her hands to her elbows. It changed the angle of Lucy's thrusts and screw coming again, she needed Alex now. Now, now, now. She was hot and tight and wet and Lucy's knot was growing by the second. If she didn't get it into Alex soon, she wouldn't get it into her at all. Then they would both be frustrated. 

Lucy started thrusting deeper, the beginning bulge just pressing into Alex's opening. She slowed down and took her time. She needed to remember how long it had been for Alex, how new this must all feel. She wondered if Alex had even taken someone's knot before. 

"Lucy, please," Alex begged again, "Just, please," Alex changed the angle of their bodies again and started squirming backward. Lucy could tell that she wanted to go faster, but Lucy didn't want to hurt her. Alex didn't care about that. She leaned into the slight burn in her vagina, leaned into Lucy's knot, worked it into herself without Lucy's permission. 

Lucy should have known Alex wasn't the kind of omega to wait for her alpha to do anything. She would simply do it herself. Lucy got with the program and stopped trying to hold back. She pressed hard into Alex, short thrusts barely giving Alex time to recover between each one until finally, she was in. It felt like the skin of her knot was melding with the skin inside of Alex. She kept moving as much as she could, and with each movement, Alex kneened and matched her. 

Lucy reached around where she could touch Alex’s clit and with just a few quick passes, Alex was coming. Her inner walls clamped down on Lucy’s cock, making her knot feel even bigger inside of Alex, and without a thought in her mind, she leaned forward and bit into the top of Alex’s shoulder where it curved into her neck. She tasted blood and Alex, and she orgasmed, pumping her hips as she filled Alex with come. The thought that she really needed to make sure Alex was on birth control courses through her mind, but she instantly forgot it. She was too busy lapping at Alex’s shoulder and feeling content. She collapsed down onto Alex’s back, her knot still tying them together, and rolled Alex onto her side, wrapping Alex in her arms. Then she and Alex fell into a light slumber. Alex’s heat wasn’t over, but it was satisfied for now.   
***  
When Lucy woke up, it was to Alex snuggling back against her. Her knot hadn’t entirely gone down yet, but it was enough where she could pull out if she really wanted to. She didn’t want to. 

She tightened her arms around Alex and kissed the slope of her shoulder where she left her mating bite. Alex made a contented sound and reached around to grasp at Lucy’s hip and pull them tighter together. 

“I’m sorry,” were the first words out of Lucy’s mouth now that she knew Alex was awake. 

“For what?” Alex sounded drowsy as she replied. She let go of Lucy’s hip and wrapped her arm over Lucy’s. 

Lucy nuzzled at the now healed mating bite on Alex’s shoulder. “For that. I shouldn’t have… at least not without talking to you first.”

“Mmm, maybe, but I don’t mind. It’s good to know I can blow your mind like that,” Alex said. Lucy’s knot finally shrank to the point where it came out of Alex easily. As soon as it was out, Alex rolled over to face Lucy. She closed her eyes, resigned, “it doesn’t have to mean anything,” she said, twining her hands through Lucy’s hair. 

That wasn’t what Lucy wanted, but if it was what Alex wanted, then that’s what they would do. “Yeah,” Lucy replied, “this can just be a one-time thing. You can probably take care of yourself for the rest of this heat.” Lucy tried not to sound disappointed. 

“Stop that,” Alex said as she nuzzled her face into Lucy’s neck. “Don’t go all noble alpha on me and start thinking I want to be anywhere other than in your bed for the rest of this heat.” 

Lucy let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. “Just because you want to be here doesn’t mean you want me to be here,” Lucy said. 

“You’re an idiot,” Alex replied as she pushed Lucy away and rolled toward the edge of the bed and sat up. She stretched languidly then stood. “I’m getting in the shower now. You’re going to come with me. We’re going to change the sheets before my body decides it’s time for round two and we're going to have a talk, again, about how you think you need to protect me.” Alex was already walking toward Lucy’s bathroom but she threw a look over her shoulder with her last words. 

“Do I get a say in this plan?” Lucy asked as she scrambled out of bed. 

“Nope,” Alex replied. She disappeared into the bathroom and Lucy could hear the sound of the shower turning on. “Now get your ass in here Director Lane, before I start without you.”


	8. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The end

Alex settled into her corner of the couch and tucked her feet up under herself. Lucy would be home in a bit. She had called to say she was picking up dinner. Alex already had a show queued up on Netflix. There was nothing left for her to do. It left her with a restless feeling that she knew meant her heat was only a couple of days away. She was finally getting used to them, to the disruption to her schedule. And she was definitely enjoying them. Lucy made sure of that. She rubbed at the mating bite that had become a permanent fixture on her shoulder and shuddered as it sent sparks of arousal through her system. 

Alex already knew how she wanted to spend her night. She just hoped Lucy wasn't too tired. Alex hadn't heard of anything noteworthy happening out at the desert base, but that didn't mean Lucy hadn't had to spend the day fighting with bureaucracy. Their yearly evaluation was coming up soon. Lucy was always tense right before she had to see her father. 

This year was bound to be worse. Alex looked down at the sparkly ring on her finger and sighed. Hopefully this year there wouldn't be an alien attack in the middle of the inevitable dinner. Alex thought about that for a moment and took it back. An alien attack was probably just what they needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading along!
> 
> I'm happy to take prompts in this universe if anyone has any.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love


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